Like I said, I bought the fabric a couple of weeks (months?) ago, and i have finally started working on the muslin. Gosh I have less than 2 months left to  make this dress, and I am feeling the strain of having left things too late. Anyways, I suppose its all my fault, and I have to bear my lot.

My friend Dibs and I have been analyzing the pattern, and wondering if the style will suit me. To be honest, I don’t think a straight cut dress is ideal for my body type, me being quite generous with flesh around the hip area, and more than stingy at the waist and top half of my body….lol….and in the words of my dear Gok Father,  I am pear shaped.

So we figured the best way to handle this little detail of dodgy bodily proportions, is to turn the dress into an A Line dress. Little matter of altering the pattern, from straight skirt, to A-line skirt. That, hopefully, should do the trick.

I did go to a bridal shop though, and tried on a couple of dresses, to see what would actually fit me. Boy are those dresses heavy. I really feel sorry for those brides who wear massive dresses. I have nothing against those, but man, I won’t be caught dead in them. Don’t have the energy to be waltzing around in a dress that could drown you, should you have the misfortune of tumbling into a pool….dark thoughts, I know, but…..one can never be too careful. Anyways, I went into a bridal shop, and the dresses that i loved the most, were the A-Line dresses. So A-Line dress it will be.

I have yet to buy the lace, and the boning for the foundation, and the extra pearls I want to use for the dress, but I think i will buy them next weekend. First things first, the muslin. So I’m off to do some sewing….ciao.

I know I have been so lazy with this blog. Had a lot of stuff going on, no time on my hands. Things are shaping up now i think. I’ve managed to bag myself a wedding planner for free. Well its actually my friend. My friend is like a Godsend really. Personally i think she should start a business doing people’s weddings. But since she is a high flyer in the investment banking world, I think that won’t be happening soon.

Anyways, about the wedding, I started on my dress. Its only 2 months to the wedding, and I am getting quite scared now. I will put up pictures of the progress of my wedding dress as I progress with the sewing.

The invitations have been sent out, and it was hard work making them, but I LOVED the end product. My friend and I worked on the design, and then got some other friends to help us with the actual production. Will remember to put up the pictures later.

I’ve started buying stuff to use for the decoration of the hall and the church. I’ve also decided to make my own flowers for the church, as the florist recommended by the  Vicar was going to bleed my cash strapped wallet. We’ll see how that goes.

So I started working on Wednesday, and I suddenly realized I did not even have time for anything anymore. Gosh, I don’t even have time to breathe. I am alive purely by God’s grace I think….lol….There is just something not remotely exciting about having to wake up at 6:45 am to prepare for work, after 9 months of not working.

On Tuesday night, not sure I would be able to wake up on time ( my earliest being 10pm daily), I decided to be proactive. A skill they insist upon these days in all job requirements ( see, already thinking like the professional person I am sure is lurking somewhere within me). I proceeded to set the alarm on my clock, the alarm on my radio, and the independent alarm on the bedside table. All with 10 minutes intervals. Just so if one did not rouse me from sweet slumber the other two, surely, would not fail in their all important mission of getting me to work early on my first day .

With my wake-up strategy finally in place, and executed, I decided to go to bed….but not before calling husband dear ( who is unfortunately spending time with family far far far away from me), and asking him to call me at 7am to wake me up, in case the other three alarms failed in waking me up. You can never be too prepared you know.

Fortunately, I got up as soon as the first one went off. But then spent a good 15 minutes trying to find my bearings, and wondering why I was awake at such an incomprehensible hour. I finally managed to drag myself out of bed and prepared myself for work. Husband dearest managed to call me when I was on the train, and approaching Euston. Anyways, I was on time on my first day.

That said, it is almost impossible to do any wedding research now on weekdays. I come back home so drained, and all i want to do is eat and sleep, but somehow,   I did make some progress last week, on the church, and wedding venue.

We visited the church in Durham, and had a nice chat with the Vicar. He was so nice, softly spoken, and he had even been to Nigeria and Sudan…YAY!!!!… he however had no freaking idea where Cameroon was located. So i patiently explained the relationship between Nigeria and Cameroon. I however could not resist berating the English for being part of the duo ( Anglo-Franco), that messed up my country…hehehhehehe…..poor husband dear almost melted into thin air.

We did a round of the church, and it is such a nice little church. Really old as well. I’m so looking forward to walking up the aisle there.

The reception grounds are also really nice. I liked the grounds round the college. Very big, and loads of greenery. There is only one problem for me though. Two actually.

Firstly, there is a VERY PURPLE curtain at the back of the wall in the reception hall, to divide it from a stage. It’s not bad really. It would actually look pretty fantastic for someone who had purple, or any color from that family , in their wedding color scheme. But as it happens, that someone is not me. My colors are orange and green, and unless I am woefully color blind, I don’t see those two colors blending with the purple curtain.

One of the event planners there told me one of the weddings there had had orange and some other color as their base, and that the purple had faded into the background. Well I bloody hope it fades into more than the background at my wedding. So I guess I will just have to work extra hard with my decorating, to make the purple monstrosity less visible. I had an idea for loads of tea light candles, to give the room an almost ethereal appearance. I still have to do some research about that. But i think I am liking the idea more and more each day.

Another thing that worries me, are chair covers. The chairs at the college are really nice, but i think the hall would look so much better if I had chair covers on them. The trouble is the woman recommended by the college charges  £3.50/chair. Which I think is blooming expensive. I have toyed with the idea of making my own chair covers. I even asked them to measure the chair and send me the measurements, which they have done . Whether I will have the time to do about 130 chair covers in time for the wedding is something I have not yet pondered. And even if I do make them, what will I do with them afterwards? I suppose I could always flog them on ebay, but then, all the hassle. oh….decisions, decisions……

Will I be able to do everything I have to do in time for the wedding? I have not even settled on a pattern for the wedding dress yet. I have however bought an ovelocker, and I have been looking at possible fabric to use. I went to John Lewis the other day, and was pleased to discover that they sell Silk Dupion for about £10/meter. So, if they can sell it for that amount, I am sure I can find it for less on Goldhawk road. I think a trip down Goldhawk road is imminent. And their lace was not so bad as well. Anyways, I think I need more research into that department.

At least I know how I want the center pieces to look like. I am thinking a transparent bowl, with water in it, about 2 or three tea lights in colored glasses, and flower petals on in it as well.

Did I make sense in this post?

I can assure you, it was not by design. My poor laptop got attacked by the most vicious of predators on the internet….the VIRUS….yeah. Those slimy buggers have cost me a laptop. Granted my poor laptop was nearing the end of its very busy life. Still, there’s nothing more painful than sudden death. The unexpected loss is what really killed me.

One minute you are browsing lazily through some blogs, trying to get inspiration for you next sewing adventure, and the next minute….pooofff……its gone. Just like that!!! No goodbye, adieu, adios, arrivedeci…nothing, nada!!!!

So like any self respecting person, I have mourned my old laptop for a month. I gave it the proper farewell it deserved. It suffered with me, through the miserable years of poverty, college life, garri drinking, and all the other stuff i won’t mention here. Farewell dear friend. You will be, and are already being, missed.

But life must go on. So I am back.

It does feel good to be back on this blog. I have not made anything too. To busy being depressed and job hunting. Can I just say that its not even remotely funny job hunting when you don’t have a computer at home?  I have had to make the short but painful walk to my local internet cafe to send applications and do whatever it is job hunters do. I must mention at this point that I now miss the look of pure joy on the faces of the owners of the internet cafe when I enter. I miss them calling me “Darling”, and telling everyone I am their best customer. I suspect it has to do with the fact that I never argue about the prices I have to pay, and the fact that I print shit loads of documents. They even kindly asked me if I was at University, because I was ” printing too much”. Yeah, I do miss that.

So, I am back.

Its 5 months now to my wedding, and I am way behind schedule on everything. I still have to make major decisions about the decoration of the venue, and I still have not started on my wedding dress. That all has to change now. April, I think, will be the month where I start implementing whatever skeletal plan I have.   I have started feeling the stress already. phew!!!!!

Anyways, I need help with ideas of how to do the tables. My colours are green and orange. SO if you see any interesting stuff out there, please let me know.

Husband dearest finally convinced me it was actually nice, but then again, i suspect he just wanted to have a nice and interesting Valentines day. So out came my phone, and I took some of these pictures.

The dress in question, is the grey dress from BWOF that I had on my to do list. I decided to go with a brown wool fabric. I don’t think I did the pleats right because they look somewhat funny. I was on such a high from my last project that I expected nothing but a perfect outcome. That was not the case though. However, being the positive person I am, I will look at the positives in this little project failure.

1) Do your research

I did not read enough about making pleats. I just assumed it would be easy. And I paid the price for that.

2) Read, Read, Read

I did not read the instructions at the start of the Burda magazine pattern page, and made one of the biggest mistakes. I did not leave seam allowance. The last project I did was with a Vogue pattern, and the seam allowance was included in the pattern. I naturally assumed the BWOF would also have seam included in the pattern. Oh how wrong was I? Exactly. So I cut the dress without leaving room for the seam allowance, and consequently the dress came out really tight. I only found out when I was looking at another new Burda magazine I bought off ebay. There, in very visible print, was the information that Burda patterns do not include seam allowance.

3) Do Not Rush

I have a big problem with patience. I am very impatient. I should have done the pleats again and again until I was completely sure I had it right. I was not on this project. Consequently the end results are far from satisfactory.

So, if you are working on any project right now, I hope you won’t repeat my mistakes.

These are the pictures of the shameful dress:

I decided to take more pictures the next day, in the hopes that the sunlight would make the dress look better. Unfortunately, it did not.

Look at how catastrophic the pleats look.

Not even my attempt at posing like a highly paid model could save the poor dress…hihihihihi

All in all, I now know I have to be more careful and patient when starting a new project.

What about you, have you ever had a project you were so ashamed off?

Now being the sort of adventurous person I am, I decided to go to all of the places, and see if I could find a bargain there. So off I went to Oxford street.

First stop BARNETT LAWSON.  It was a nice place, and I was impressed by all the stock they’ve got. LOADS of trimmings. I also liked the little sinamay bases they had for fascinators. I wanted to buy them, but then I thought I should go to all the other shops first and check what they have, and at what prices. They also had feathers in all colours, but I did not get them, because at over £3.50 without VAT, I was not impressed. I later regretted my decision ( more on this below).

I made my way from there to RD FRANKS. Now this is neither a fabric shop, nor a Haberdashery, but it is a fashion bookshop, and a MIGHTY good one at that. There were all sorts of magazines and books on fashion. I even saw the higly unavailable Marfy catalogues there. I quickly grabbed one copy, hugging it to my bossom like my long lost child. It became my companion for as long as I was in the shop, but alas, I had to leave it behind because at £16, that was a little bit too much for my very bare purse.

Anyways, I take comfort in the fact that no situation is permanent, and hopefully soon, I shall win the lottery, and fly all the way to Italy instead, to the Marfy headquarters, and get my own copy.  RD Franks also stocks Burda, and La Mia Boutique. Though yesterday they had not received the latest edition of both. The very helpful sales assistant assured me they would be having them in a few weeks time. So I have to check out La Mia Boutique later.

There were also many books on pattern design and sewing. I have taken an interest in pattern making, and though I have not yet made any patterns for myself, I have been busy buying books on this subject, or reading about it on the internet. So I hope I will be able to draft something for myself next week.

Again, I did not buy anything from there, but walked out quickly, lest I was spotted walking out empty handed, as i had been walking around the shop with the Marfy magazine for too long, and surely, just surely, the sales assistant would have expected me to buy it.

Next stop was MORPLAN. It is not really far from RD Franks. Just a couple of metres away. They sell fashion design related stuff, and also cater to the retail industry. I was not really sure I would find anything I wanted in there, but the Sale signs on the shop windows propelled me into the shop. Temptations…. temptations. I have been coveting a rotary cutter and mat for as long as I can remember, and there they were. Oh but the price tag. I know they are not really that expensive, compared to other sewing accessories, but when the amount of spending money you have is in single digits, then you know you are looking at the wrong item.  They did have budget dressforms, which was nice to know, but as I have decided I want to make my own dressform from duct tape, I felt no pain at my inability to buy one. Plus the ones there would not have been perfect for me coz of my VERY GENEROUS backside.

From there, I went to MACCULLOCH AND WALLIS. I must say I was hugely disappointed by the shop. Sure they had loads of stuff, but it was the look of the shop that I hated. Their website is so lovely, and their prices are so high, you’d think they would take the time to make the shop look nice. Oh, remember the feathers I decided not to buy because I wanted to find them elsewhere? I saw them here, but almost had a heart attack when the sales advisor said it would set me back £80 to get a meter of feathers. £80 ??????? oh and that is without VAT. I literally ran out of the shop, but not before looking for and going through their clearance basket. I bought three bundles from there for about £4. yeah , that’s more like my level. lol… I’m so cheap right?

I also popped into KLEIN’S , which is off Berwick Street, to get some thread, dashed back to John Lewis ( which I quite love for haberdashery supplies when I am in a hurry), and bought a seam ripper, and a loop turner. I have decided I can’t be asked to take out my seams with a pin anymore, so the seam ripper will definitely come in handy.

So all in all, not a bad day.

What about you? when in london, where do you shop for supplies?

I am not sure how I want it to be yet, so for now I am leaving it like this. A white canvass. I’ll think of what to make it look like later. I’m feeling too lazy right now to even think.

Hasta luego

xoxoxo

Moi

PS: what do you think of the new blank look?

I finally finished my version of the famous Roland Mouret Galaxy dress today, and I could not wait to put the pictures up. I actually wore it to a birthday party today, and got exciting compliments. yippeee..

Sewing it really took a lot of effort, but I am happy because  I have managed to learn how to attach lining to a dress. The sleeves and the flange were the most difficult for me to sew. hahaa..it got so bad at one point I almost chopped off my husband’s head due to frustration. Poor thing, he is really having the wrong end of my sewing experience.

I used a 100% wool fabric I got from a charity shop at a jaw dropping bargain. My husband actually liked the dress so much, he is even advocating i get a more expensive fabric and do the dress again. So, at least, I am getting recognition for all my pain.

so without boring you with more details, i present, THE GALAXY DRESS:

and my very modest effort:

The pattern is really good, but for people like us who have alot of baggage around the hip area, it is very tricky to get it right. I used the size 12 pattern for the top, and the size 14 pattern for the skirt, and the skirt came out a bit tight around the hips. Next time I will have to add more fabric to the hip section, or maybe use a stretchy fabric.

When I went to the party, I kept moving around, and praying someone would compliment the dress. Fortunately, one girl did, and as soon as she said that, I quickly informed her I made the dress myself…see…fishing for recognition…hahahaha…anyways, having another girl compliment the dress without knowing I made it has given me so much confidence about my sewing. I am now more convinced that I can actually pull off making my own wedding dress. I am still looking for the perfect style though.

So, what do you think of my humble effort at making the dress?

So this is her original dress:

and this is my humble attempt at the dress. Of course, being the lazy chick  I am, I could not convince myself to figure out how to attach the ruffles at the front of the dress. So I just took the easy way out, and attached it round the neck.

and another pic

and finally

I really love this pattern, and I will make this dress again and again and again. Next time though, I will put the ruffles down the front, as the Selfish Seamstress designed it.

The idea was that we would have the blessing at the Chapel , right next to the reception hall, so that afterwards, our guests could walk the reception hall, and possibly rent the college hostel rooms ( which look quite posh I must add) for the weekend. The days, as you know have been reserved by yours truly, so all that remained, was to have a word with the chaplain, to confirm his availability. Easy right?

Wrong!!!

Oh, things are never that easy in life. I was duly asked by his Holiness if i had any links to the college. To which I promptly said ( with great pride), that my brother-in-law worked at the university. Son excellence then went on to inform me, in that gentle and calming voice used every sunday at 10am, that he was sorry, but for political reasons, I need to establish a strong bond between my husband and I, and the college.

Political reasons….in a Church of God…..am I missing something here? I think sometime, during the 7 years I spent in an all-girls, mission boarding school, someone forgot to tell me the house of God had become politically enslaved. Of course I told my husband this, and I think he will call in sick at work tomorrow. The poor guy is devastated…lol….amidst my anger, I do see something funny in this though. I don’t know why I can’t attain the same level of anger as the husband. Probably because I am too lazy to psyche myself to such levels…now it is at times like this that am grateful to be a grade A lazy chica.

Anyways, I’m off to find another church. i wonder what the next one will say.